


Please. I Need You.

by arielgryffinpuff



Series: Tumblr Stony Prompts: CapxTony [8]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Cuddling Makes It Better, Established Relationship, Harassment, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, OMC Is An Ass, Panic Attacks, Protective Steve, Steve's Not Happy About It, Threats, Workplace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-02 14:59:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11511771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arielgryffinpuff/pseuds/arielgryffinpuff
Summary: Based on (title) prompt.





	1. I Need My Rock

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me what you think!  
> Also, tell me if you think I need to alter the tags or the rating.

Tony slumped down his office wall, crumbling down to the floor in a heap, as he tried to get a hold of his breathing. Wasn’t working so far.

“Hh-huh- St-” He whimpered, and started saying Steve’s name automatically, though he wasn’t here.  
Lawrence, the smug businessman, had just walked out of his office, throwing the door back and waiting for it to shut behind him before he walked away. Smugly as ever, Tony presumed.

So, another problem he would have to deal with.

Tony’s breathing increased, and he felt the struggle in his lungs, he couldn’t get enough air. He grasped onto his ruffled shirt and pulled on it, needing to get a hold on something, anything. He reached over to get his phone and started calling Steve immediately. He didn’t really have another option. His hands were shaking as he made the call, and held the SI gadget closer to his face, begging for him to pick up.

\--

_“You think you’re this ‘big man’ – but you’re just pathetic, Stark!”  
He was thrust against the wall and let out a gasp. It quickly turned to anger as he shoved the guy off of him and glared at him_

_“Listen, you son of a bitch-”_

_“No, you listen-!” The man got right up in Tony’s face._

_“You can’t do this in a work place! Especially_ my _work place!” Tony was incredulous.  
“Oh, you wanna take this outside?”_

_Lawrence grabbed Tony’s collar and shoved him against the wall._

_“You’re not gonna do anything. You can’t,” The arrogant twat smiled and looked down at Tony. “You don’t run this place, you know, Stark. You don’t get to make all the decisions, and if_ this _doesn’t show you that-” He shoved his knee against Tony’s leg. “-then you’re a lost cause.”_

 _Tony stood there watching him in shock, thinking just_ fight back _. But Lawrence was right; he couldn’t, not here. He didn’t know what would happen. A big law case? The press? His company – all the people that worked for him? All these thoughts went jumping through his mind and he ended up just lost in a sea of panic; he had not expected this to happen when the man who worked with him had wanted to see him in his office._

_Lawrence put a hand on Tony’s waist and for a second he was wondering what he was doing, when the man put his hand on a bit of Tony’s shirt that had fell out of his trousers, and tucked it back in for him, right up against his bare hip._

_“There. All nice and better.”_

_Tony could hardly breathe. He didn’t really dare to. His eyes were burning with a kind of fire and he couldn’t decide what to do._

_He didn’t really notice much of the vague threat Lawrence had made afterwards as he just left Tony there, and strutted out of the room, making sure no one was in the near vicinity before walking off._

Tony wanted to kill him. But at the moment, his anger had just been quelled and he was just – just – scared, and he didn’t know why. He felt humiliated. Could he even tell Steve about this? Especially as they had had a fight earlier that morning… _Dammit_ , Tony cursed to himself, looking up at the ceiling, willing his eyes to stay dry, and for his breathing to slow, but it didn’t, not when his mind didn’t slow down, couldn’t stop thinking of everything, thinking – did that just really happen? Did he just get attacked – no – more like harassed – threatened? Blackmailed? In his work place? What was wrong with him?

Or what was wrong with the people who _worked_ for him.

He was debating all this and he swallowed thickly, his throat becoming dry as he tried breathing deeply through it, one hand clutched around his hip, when he noticed Steve had answered the call and was saying something to him.

\--

Steve was with Sam Wilson, and a few other people he worked with, going over training techniques in the Avengers HQ tower, but really he couldn’t concentrate much on it. He was thinking about Tony, and it was hard not to think about him while he was only in the opposite building, doing work or in some meeting.

That was when his phone rang, and he picked it up to see Tony calling him. That’s…odd.  
“Sorry, just gotta-” He motioned to Sam with the phone, and he nodded, and then walked away from them a few steps before putting the phone to his ear.

“Tony?”

There was no sound. Steve frowned and looked down at the phone, wondering if he had pressed the wrong thing or something; but Tony had made him a simple SI phone just for him, and it looked like he was in the call, so he put it to his ear again and walked away from the talking a bit more.

“Tony? You alright?” He asked.

This time he heard some quiet breathing – laboured breathing – and he listened more carefully.

“Tony, what’s going on?”

“I – I – Steve,” Tony said, relief colouring his voice. “Ste- I’m sor-sorry, you – probably wor-working right now – I just-”

“Tony, calm down, what’s the matter?” Steve said back quickly, and looked out the window. Tony didn’t sound good. But he hadn’t had a panic attack in a while, and this, sounded exactly like a panic attack.

“ _Tony_.”

“Yea – yea – sorry.” Tony sighed on the other end, a little hiccup as Tony caught his breath, and Steve frowned even more, hating the vulnerable sound Tony making, he was never like that, and Steve just had the urge to be with him, _right now_.

“Steve – please…” Tony closed his eyes, holding onto his phone with a white-knuckle grip. He had never admitted to needing anyone. Never wanted to have to need anyone. But he could hardly breathe, and the panic had begun to set in – and Steve-

“I need you.” His voice cracked, and his eyes threatened to spill over with the tears he couldn’t hold back anymore.  
“Where are you?” Steve said firmly, looking over at Sam as he signalled he would be going. He quickly left the building.

“In – Steve,” Tony struggled to get the words out. “My office.”

“I’m on my way – Tony, just breathe, I’m coming, ok?” Steve tried to reassure him over the phone as he made a beeline to the other building and up the stairs as quickly as he could. He passed a few officials and employees on his way, one of them looking particularly smug, and he was sure he’d seen him around somewhere before, but he ignored them, and carried on to Tony’s office, showing his eyes to the scanner, and the door opened.


	2. Your Rock's Here

Tony was huddled on the floor when he dropped his phone and he noticed Steve coming in, and saw him coming straight over to him.

Steve skidded right in front of him and immediately knelt down and put reassuring hands on his shoulders.

“Tony – Tony,” Steve breathed, looking at him with sincerity, and confusion. “What happe-”

But Tony was shaking his head, and looked up at Steve, his hand reaching out to him. Steve grasped onto his hand and interlocked their fingers.   
“Hey, it’s ok,” Steve reassured him, sitting down on the floor next to him, his back up against the wall, as he pulled Tony’s body to his chest and put another hand around his head, stroking his hair. “It’s ok, just _breathe_.” He breathed as well; loudly, in and out, so Tony could feel Steve’s lung inflating and deflating as he leant on him. Steve knew how to do this by now, and he could feel Tony slowly calming down.

“It’s not-” Tony hiccupped out, “It’s not okay, stop saying – it’s just-” Tony tried to breathe, feeling Steve’s hand on the back of his neck, of him holding him tightly and he looked up and saw the concerned look on Steve’s face.

“Ste- He – I don’t-” Tony didn’t know how to say it; only if he did say it, he might relapse, and he was doing better now, he felt like he could breathe, with Steve’s strong arms wrapped around him, and sprawled on Steve’s lap.

Steve put his forehead to Tony’s. “Okay, it’s alright, I’ve got you.” He looked at Tony’s wide brown eyes, and it made his heart squeeze. He pressed a kiss to Tony’s forehead, and kept peppering kisses all over his face and head, as Tony buried himself further into Steve’s neck, and smiled, closing his eyes into Steve’s warm embrace.

Steve kept rubbing him, pecking him, whispering small reassurances to him, and he only just noticed the foreign smell that was on Tony, but it was a different cologne to Tony’s, which Steve was used to, and it definitely wasn’t his own.

Tony was quieter now, and his breathing seemed to be better, still letting out little sounds now and then.

“Tony?” Steve asked with concern.

“I’m-” Tony bit his lip, swallowed and looked up to him. “I’m sorry about our fight this morning – I should have realised what was – what was really important-”

“It’s ok, I know, I’m sorry too.” He gave Tony a small reassuring smile, still stroking his face and searching his eyes. “Is that what this was about? You were…worried about us?” If that was the case, Steve really needed to re-evaluate how they left fights.

“N-no,” Tony grabbed a hold of Steve’s shirt and breathed in deeply, feeling calmer, and warm in Steve’s surprisingly soft embrace. They were just sort of sprawled across the floor, Tony half sitting on Steve’s lap, his legs curled up, and he was aware of how childish it seemed, for him to be like this. He just didn’t understand it sometimes. How it got him so worked up.

He had a frown etched into his face by now and looked up at Steve, who was still stroking him, looking worried, and Tony just felt so grateful that he had come to him, that he had someone like this in his life – and he just reached up and kissed Steve sensually on the lips.

Steve put his hand lightly on Tony’s face, and caressed his lip as he pulled away, still hovering close. But that kiss had just reminded Steve of the unknown men’s cologne that he had smelled on his boyfriend.

“Thank you,” Tony leaned into Steve’s hand.

Steve shook his head. “Don’t, Tony.”

Tony sat up a bit but didn’t make an effort to move off or away from Steve, as he was quite comfortable in Steve’s arms and didn’t really see much reason to move.

“Honey,” Steve started, “Did someone – did someone do this – to you?”

Tony looked up, his mouth opened as if to say something, then he closed it again and frowned.

“It’s not – don’t get mad,” Tony said, but even as he said it his own jaw clenched, and Steve got worried.

“Tony, I’m not gonna get mad at _you_ ,” Steve exclaimed. He sat up straighter right away and held Tony’s hand again. “Tony, _who_?”

Tony still didn’t look at him. “I should’ve known…God, it was this – I don’t know if you know him,” Tony licked his lips, and blinked a few times, “-this ass, Lawrence, who thinks he runs the place – or wants to, anyway-” Tony sighed and clasped Steve’s hand tighter. “God, I wanted to fight back, I mean – he obviously doesn’t like me-” Tony let out a hollow laugh, “-but let’s face it, not many people do here.”

Tony put on a show, but Steve could tell that hurt him.   
“That’s not true,” Steve said solemnly, and noticed Tony was holding his hip again.

“Did he…hurt you?”

Tony looked up, his eyes flickering and Steve’s face blanked out.

“I mean, I know right? Here, in my own office?” Tony tried to make the situation humorous. “He’s got a cheek – look Steve, don’t worry about it-”

“Don’t worry about it?!” Steve went to hold Tony’s face. “Jesus – honey – he’s not gonna know what’s hit him.”

“Let me guess, you wanna take your new shield prototype out for a spin?”

“Tony, this isn’t funny,” Steve said more seriously, and Tony’s small smile slipped form his face. Steve gritted his jaw, and Tony felt his body tense up. “And I’ll be damned if I let him hurt you, dammit come _near_ you, ever again!” Steve was shaking his head, and Tony just looked down, and moved off of Steve’s lap to lean against the wall next to him.

Steve looked at him, sad at the loss of contact immediately, and he stood up, and put his hand out to Tony, who sighed, and let himself be pulled up. Steve leant his forehead to Tony’s and kissed him again, letting himself savour Tony’s lips, soft and wandering underneath his.

Steve stored his anger elsewhere until he dealt with _Lawrence_ , until then, he didn’t want to be anywhere else apart from with Tony.

He leaned away slightly, holding Tony’s waist.

“Tony, baby, listen,” Steve said. “You don’t deserve this treatment, you don’t – need this – and I’m not gonna leave you, ok?”

Tony nodded.

“Now, tell me everything that happened.” Tony looked up to him in slight protest. “Or I’m just gonna look at the security footage.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Mm?” Steve raised his eyebrows challengingly and made to leave to go over to Tony’s desk, but Tony pulled his hand back.   
“Don’t,” Tony looked resigned. “I’ll tell you, just don’t – don’t go off in a rage – or- just-”

“I won’t, I won’t,” Steve promised. “I’m not gonna leave you, Tony.” He ran his hand through Tony’s fluffy hair. “I’m right here.” Steve had to suppress his balled fist at his side, instead replacing it with reassuring and calming gestures, though he was getting angrier by the minute just _thinking_ about that ugly-hearted man threatening his Tony; the one he was sure he had seen earlier. But he concentrated on Tony, and making sure he was alright, and not going into anxiety-attack-mode again, as they sat down together and Tony told him all about this Lawrence guy, and what he did.


	3. Rock. Angry.

Steve was on a murderous rampage and there was really nothing anyone could do about it.

“Ste-”

“Yes, honey,” Steve replied grittily. Tony struggled to keep up behind Steve’s long walking strokes out through their office and around the building looking for _him_.

“Can we – do this in a, er, controlled manner, maybe? You know, one that means you don’t get arrested, or-”

“Sure,” Steve replied, but didn’t make an effort to slow down. He turned around a corner and saw some businessmen down the hall, and he headed that way. He risked a glance at Tony behind him and stopped at his anxious face.

“It’s ok,” Steve tried to reassure him. He put his hands on Tony’s face and rubbed his cheeks. “Nobody gets away with this, you understand? No-one. I don’t care who they are.”

Tony looked like he was going to protest, but Steve grimaced at him, and took his hands away as he carried on walking through the corridor. Tony sighed and rolled his eyes and carried on following Steve, nodding to the other men he worked with as he past them.

“Ok, so, you’re not going to resort to violence? ‘Cause you know, I can’t technically fire him myself, or I would’ve done already, because I’m not his boss, and – well-”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he leaves on his own accord and never comes back,” Steve muttered, as he stopped, and looked around a few of the doors of offices around him. Tony sighed.

“Threats. Classy. I’m going to the bathroom,” Tony said dryly, and went inside the men’s room right next to them, when he came face to face with Lawrence again, and he backed up a few steps in surprise.

“Stark. How nice to see you again,” Lawrence said, smirking. “So, have you thought about what I said?”

“Look, big guy, we can’t always get what we want-” Tony stalled while he subtlety pressed his tech-watch on his wrist.

“Ah!” Lawrence grabbed his wrist and twisted it and Tony tried to squirm out of his grasp but it was surprisingly strong as the man took hold of Tony’s belt.

“No, but you always seem to get what you want,” He replied. Tony felt like people always said something like that to him and he wanted to scream about how untrue it was.

“Buddy, get off me now, otherwise-” Tony bought up his now gauntlet-ed red metallic hand putting it firmly on Lawrence’s shoulder. Lawrence looked wide eyed at it. “Things are gonna get messy,” Tony assured him, giving him a cold look, though it felt like his pulse was going to beat out of him at any minute.

Just then Steve appeared, coming into the bathroom looking for him, and his expression went stone cold.

“You slimy bastard,” He said as he grabbed Lawrence off of Tony.

“Hey!” The guy said angrily. He gasped as Steve shoved him roughly against the wall out by the offices. Along the corridor he distantly heard some other people coming this way.

“Listen here,” Steve hissed close to the man’s face. He wasn’t old, nor young, but he just looked prissy and _scared_.

“Uh, Steve-” Tony said, eyes wide.

“You think you could get away with this, huh? I should you have for _assault_ -” Steve angrily shoved Lawrence against the wall again.

Tony turned to see Happy and some security men coming up to them. _About time_ , he thought.

“What’s going on here gentlemen?”

Steve was still hissing things to the man that sounded vaguely like menacing threats.

“Captain?” Happy said, raising his eyebrow at the scene.

Steve gritted his jaw and stepped back slightly from the man glaring his nostrils at him.

“Mr Lawrence?” Happy asked.

“Look, I didn’t do anything – we were just talking!”

“Is that right? You know, I think you should come with me.”  
“NO! It was his crazy boyfriend who attacked me!” Lawrence tried in vain to defend himself, but the security guards just grabbed him by the shoulder and took him away, as he was protesting.

“You’re nothing but a coward!” He turned back to say.

“Yea, yea, could you shut him up please?” Happy called after the security.

“You alright?” He asked Tony, who was looking dishevelled. Tony didn’t reply. “ _Tony_? Do I need to call first aid? Are you alright?” He said more slowly.

Tony looked over at Happy. He nodded, and swallowed. “Of course.”

Steve went up to him. “You sure? Honey, I’m sorry-”

“No, no, it’s ok, I’m fine, really.” He was still looking lost though, and as he pressed the gauntlet on his hand it shrunk around itself to become a watch again, and Steve took his hand and held onto it tightly.

“Will you make sure that he never comes back?” Steve asked Happy for him.

Happy looked at him. “Yea, I can. That prick’s been bugging me for too long.”

“Thanks, Happy,” Tony said, looking up to him to smile at him tiredly.

“Take care of yourself. I’ll call in on you later!” He said, turning on his heel and heading away. The sunlight started to stream in the building-length windows at the front of the building.

Steve sighed and looked down to Tony, as he cupped his face and kissed him softly, pulling him closer. Tony leaned into his chest and Steve put his arms around him.

“I told ya I wouldn’t let the rage get the best of me, right? That turned out well,” Steve huffed. “But God, I’m so mad.”

“I know. I don’t blame you,” Tony says, putting his head on Steve’s shoulder. Steve noses into Tony’s hair.

“You wanna get out of here for a while?” Steve asks quietly. Tony leans back to look at his soft, blue eyes.

“Yea, I do,” He replies, smiling up at him.

Steve relaxes looking at his big brown eyes and he leans his forehead to Tony’s so they’re touching. Tony slowly inhales, and thinks he’d like to stay like that forever.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I suck at endings, I know. I always start fics off so optimistically, and then i'm like...hang on what do i do now.


End file.
